Trenin said that Vladimir Putin’s visit to China will be dedicated to finalizing and signing agreements with Chinese partners in various spheres. Issues like the future of China-Russia bilateral relations, the prospects of economic cooperation between the two countries, and international relations will be discussed with the Chinese leadership. Trenin added that the fact that Putin is going to visit the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit means SCO still remains an important institution to Russia, particularly for discussing security issues in Asia.

True Partners?

China and Russia are often considered to be partners and their bilateral relations are unlikely to deteriorate in the near future. However, Trenin noted, it would be a mistake to assume that there are no problems in relations between China and Russia. Therefore the leaderships of the both countries should make efforts to improve their relations in all spheres.

Russia, China and Global Governance

In terms of global governance, China and Russia have some shared interests, Trenin said. The political philosophy of the leaderships of the two countries is also similar. However Russia and China also have very different views on some issues. These differences can be attributed to the structure of the Chinese and Russian economies and the position the two countries have in global governance, Trenin said.

Trenin added that China should broaden its area of cooperation with the West beyond purely economic issues to security issues. The West is interested in cooperation with China, since the Chinese economy is on the rise, and Western leaders realize they should take China, as well as other arising global powers such as India and Brazil, into account, Trenin concluded.